[1: Omnes qui plus poterant in palatio, adulandi professores jam docti, recte consulta, prospereque completa vertebant in deridiculum: talia sine modo strepentes insulse; in odium venit cum victoriis suis; capella, non homo; ut hirsutum Julianum carpentes, appellantesque loquacem talpam, et purpuratam simiam, et litterionem Graecum: et his congruentia plurima atque vernacula principi resonantes, audire haec taliaque gestienti, virtutes ejus obruere verbis impudentibus conabantur, et segnem incessentes et timidum et umbratilem, gestaque secus verbis comptioribus exornantem. Ammianus, s. xvii. 11. Note: The philosophers retaliated on the courtiers. Marius (says Eunapius in a newly-discovered fragment) was wont to call his antagonist Sylla a beast half lion and half fox. Constantius had nothing of the lion, but was surrounded by a whole litter of foxes. Mai. Script. Byz. Nov. Col. ii. 238. Niebuhr. Byzant. Hist. 66. - M.]

  

  


[2: Ammian. xvi. 12. The orator Themistius (iv. p. 56, 57) believed whatever was contained in the Imperial letters, which were addressed to the senate of Constantinople Aurelius Victor, who published his Abridgment in the last year of Constantius, ascribes the German victories to the wisdom of the emperor, and the fortune of the Caesar. Yet the historian, soon afterwards, was indebted to the favor or esteem of Julian for the honor of a brass statue, and the important offices of consular of the second Pannonia, and praefect of the city, Ammian. xxi. 10.]

  

  


[3: Callido nocendi artificio, accusatoriam diritatem laudum titulis peragebant. . . Hae voces fuerunt ad inflammanda odia probria omnibus potentiores. See Mamertin, in Actione Gratiarum in Vet Panegyr. xi. 5, 6.]

  

  


[4: The minute interval, which may be interposed, between the hyeme adulta and the primo vere of Ammianus, (xx. l. 4,) instead of allowing a sufficient space for a march of three thousand miles, would render the orders of Constantius as extravagant as they were unjust. The troops of Gaul could not have reached Syria till the end of autumn. The memory of Ammianus must have been inaccurate, and his language incorrect. Note: The late editor of Ammianus attempts to vindicate his author from the charge of inaccuracy. "It is clear, from the whole course of the narrative, that Constantius entertained this design of demanding his troops from Julian, immediately after the taking of Amida, in the autumn of the preceding year, and had transmitted his orders into Gaul, before it was known that Lupicinus had gone into Britain with the Herulians and Batavians." Wagner, note to Amm. xx. 4. But it seems also clear that the troops were in winter quarters (hiemabant) when the orders arrived. Ammianus can scarcely be acquitted of incorrectness in his language at least. - M]

  

  


[5: Ammianus, xx. l. The valor of Lupicinus, and his military skill, are acknowledged by the historian, who, in his affected language, accuses the general of exalting the horns of his pride, bellowing in a tragic tone, and exciting a doubt whether he was more cruel or avaricious. The danger from the Scots and Picts was so serious that Julian himself had some thoughts of passing over into the island.]

  

  


[6: He granted them the permission of the cursus clavularis, or clabularis. These post-wagons are often mentioned in the Code, and were supposed to carry fifteen hundred pounds weight. See Vales. ad Ammian. xx. 4.]

  

  


[7: Most probably the palace of the baths, (Thermarum,) of which a solid and lofty hall still subsists in the Rue de la Harpe. The buildings covered a considerable space of the modern quarter of the university; and the gardens, under the Merovingian kings, communicated with the abbey of St. Germain des Prez. By the injuries of time and the Normans, this ancient palace was reduced, in the twelfth century, to a maze of ruins, whose dark recesses were the scene of licentious love. Explicat aula sinus montemque amplectitur alis; Multiplici latebra scelerum tersura ruborem. .... pereuntis saepe pudoris Celatura nefas, Venerisque accommoda furtis. (These lines are quoted from the Architrenius, l. iv. c. 8, a poetical work of John de Hauteville, or Hanville, a monk of St. Alban's, about the year 1190. See Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. dissert. ii.) Yet such thefts might be less pernicious to mankind than the theological disputes of the Sorbonne, which have been since agitated on the same ground. Bonamy, Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xv. p. 678-632]

  

  


[8: Even in this tumultuous moment, Julian attended to the forms of superstitious ceremony, and obstinately refused the inauspicious use of a female necklace, or a horse collar, which the impatient soldiers would have employed in the room of a diadem.]

  

  


[9: An equal proportion of gold and silver, five pieces of the former one pound of the latter; the whole amounting to about five pounds ten shillings of our money.]

  

  


[10: For the whole narrative of this revolt, we may appeal to authentic and original materials; Julian himself, (ad S. P. Q. Atheniensem, p. 282, 283, 284,) Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. 44-48, in Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 269-273,) Ammianus, (xx. 4,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 151, 152, 153.) who, in the reign of Julian, appears to follow the more respectable authority of Eunapius. With such guides we might neglect the abbreviators and ecclesiastical historians.]

  

  


[11: Eutropius, a respectable witness, uses a doubtful expression, "consensu militum." (x. 15.) Gregory Nazianzen, whose ignorance night excuse his fanaticism, directly charges the apostate with presumption, madness, and impious rebellion, Orat. iii. p. 67.]

  

  


[12: Julian. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 284. The devout Abbe de la Bleterie (Vie de Julien, p. 159) is almost inclined to respect the devout protestations of a Pagan.]

  

  


[13: Ammian. xx. 5, with the note of Lindenbrogius on the Genius of the empire. Julian himself, in a confidential letter to his friend and physician, Oribasius, (Epist. xvii. p. 384,) mentions another dream, to which, before the event, he gave credit; of a stately tree thrown to the ground, of a small plant striking a deep root into the earth. Even in his sleep, the mind of the Caesar must have been agitated by the hopes and fears of his fortune. Zosimus (l. iii. p. 155) relates a subsequent dream.]

  

  


[14: The difficult situation of the prince of a rebellious army is finely described by Tacitus, (Hist. 1, 80-85.) But Otho had much more guilt, and much less abilities, than Julian.]

  

  


[15: To this ostensible epistle he added, says Ammianus, private letters, objurgatorias et mordaces, which the historian had not seen, and would not have published. Perhaps they never existed.]

  

  


[16: See the first transactions of his reign, in Julian. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 285, 286. Ammianus, xx. 5, 8. Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 49, 50, p. 273-275.]

  

  


[17: Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 50, p. 275, 276. A strange disorder, since it continued above seven years. In the factions of the Greek republics, the exiles amounted to 20,000 persons; and Isocrates assures Philip, that it would be easier to raise an army from the vagabonds than from the cities. See Hume's Essays, tom. i. p. 426, 427.]

  

  


[18: Julian (Epist. xxxviii. p. 414) gives a short description of Vesontio, or Besancon; a rocky peninsula almost encircled by the River Doux; once a magnificent city, filled with temples, &c., now reduced to a small town, emerging, however, from its ruins.]

  

  


[19: Vadomair entered into the Roman service, and was promoted from a barbarian kingdom to the military rank of duke of Phoenicia. He still retained the same artful character, (Ammian. xxi. 4;) but under the reign of Valens, he signalized his valor in the Armenian war, (xxix. 1.)]


[20: Ammian. xx. 10, xxi. 3, 4. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 155.]

  

  


[21: Her remains were sent to Rome, and interred near those of her sister Constantina, in the suburb of the Via Nomentana. Ammian. xxi. 1. Libanius has composed a very weak apology, to justify his hero from a very absurd charge of poisoning his wife, and rewarding her physician with his mother's jewels. (See the seventh of seventeen new orations, published at Venice, 1754, from a MS. in St. Mark's Library, p. 117-127.) Elpidius, the Praetorian praefect of the East, to whose evidence the accuser of Julian appeals, is arraigned by Libanius, as effeminate and ungrateful; yet the religion of Elpidius is praised by Jerom, (tom. i. p. 243,) and his Ammianus (xxi. 6.)]

  

  


[22: Feriarum die quem celebrantes mense Januario, Christiani Epiphania dictitant, progressus in eorum ecclesiam, solemniter numine orato discessit. Ammian. xxi. 2. Zonaras observes, that it was on Christmas day, and his assertion is not inconsistent; since the churches of Egypt, Asia, and perhaps Gaul, celebrated on the same day (the sixth of January) the nativity and the baptism of their Savior. The Romans, as ignorant as their brethren of the real date of his birth, fixed the solemn festival to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or winter solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of the sun. See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, l. xx. c. 4, and Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheismo tom. ii. p. 690-700.]

  

  


[23: The public and secret negotiations between Constantius and Julian must be extracted, with some caution, from Julian himself. (Orat. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286.) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 51, p. 276,) Ammianus, (xx. 9,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 154,) and even Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 20, 21, 22,) who, on this occasion, appears to have possessed and used some valuable materials.]

  

  


[24: Three hundred myriads, or three millions of medimni, a corn measure familiar to the Athenians, and which contained six Roman modii. Julian explains, like a soldier and a statesman, the danger of his situation, and the necessity and advantages of an offensive war, (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286, 287.)]

  

  


[25: See his oration, and the behavior of the troops, in Ammian. xxi. 5.]

  

  


[26: He sternly refused his hand to the suppliant praefect, whom he sent into Tuscany. (Ammian. xxi. 5.) Libanius, with savage fury, insults Nebridius, applauds the soldiers, and almost censures the humanity of Julian. (Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278.)]

  

  


[27: Ammian. xxi. 8. In this promotion, Julian obeyed the law which he publicly imposed on himself. Neque civilis quisquam judex nec militaris rector, alio quodam praeter merita suffragante, ad potiorem veniat gradum. (Ammian. xx. 5.) Absence did not weaken his regard for Sallust, with whose name (A. D. 363) he honored the consulship.]

  

  


[28: Ammianus (xxi. 8) ascribes the same practice, and the same motive, to Alexander the Great and other skilful generals.]

  

  


[29: This wood was a part of the great Hercynian forest, which, is the time of Caesar, stretched away from the country of the Rauraci (Basil) into the boundless regions of the north. See Cluver, Germania Antiqua. l. iii. c. 47.]

  

  


[30: Compare Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278, 279, with Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 68. Even the saint admires the speed and secrecy of this march. A modern divine might apply to the progress of Julian the lines which were originally designed for another apostate: - - So eagerly the fiend, O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.]

  

  


[31: In that interval the Notitia places two or three fleets, the Lauriacensis, (at Lauriacum, or Lorch,) the Arlapensis, the Maginensis; and mentions five legions, or cohorts, of Libernarii, who should be a sort of marines. Sect. lviii. edit. Labb.]

  

  


[32: Zosimus alone (l. iii. p. 156) has specified this interesting circumstance. Mamertinus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 6, 7, 8,) who accompanied Julian, as count of the sacred largesses, describes this voyage in a florid and picturesque manner, challenges Triptolemus and the Argonauts of Greece, &c.]

  

  


[A: Banostar. Mannert. - M.]

  

  


[33: The description of Ammianus, which might be supported by collateral evidence, ascertains the precise situation of the Angustine Succorum, or passes of Succi. M. d'Anville, from the trifling resemblance of names, has placed them between Sardica and Naissus. For my own justification I am obliged to mention the only error which I have discovered in the maps or writings of that admirable geographer.]

  

  


[34: Whatever circumstances we may borrow elsewhere, Ammianus (xx. 8, 9, 10) still supplies the series of the narrative.]

  

  


[35: Ammian. xxi. 9, 10. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 54, p. 279, 280. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 156, 157.]

  

  


[36: Julian (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286) positively asserts, that he intercepted the letters of Constantius to the Barbarians; and Libanius as positively affirms, that he read them on his march to the troops and the cities. Yet Ammianus (xxi. 4) expresses himself with cool and candid hesitation, si famoe solius admittenda est fides. He specifies, however, an intercepted letter from Vadomair to Constantius, which supposes an intimate correspondence between them. "disciplinam non habet."]

  

  


[37: Zosimus mentions his epistles to the Athenians, the Corinthians, and the Lacedaemonians. The substance was probably the same, though the address was properly varied. The epistle to the Athenians is still extant, (p. 268-287,) and has afforded much valuable information. It deserves the praises of the Abbe de la Bleterie, (Pref. a l'Histoire de Jovien, p. 24, 25,) and is one of the best manifestoes to be found in any language.]

  

  


[38: Auctori tuo reverentiam rogamus. Ammian. xxi. 10. It is amusing enough to observe the secret conflicts of the senate between flattery and fear. See Tacit. Hist. i. 85.]

  

  


[39: Tanquam venaticiam praedam caperet: hoc enim ad Jeniendum suorum metum subinde praedicabat. Ammian. xxii. 7.]

  

  


[40: See the speech and preparations in Ammianus, xxi. 13. The vile Theodotus afterwards implored and obtained his pardon from the merciful conqueror, who signified his wish of diminishing his enemies and increasing the numbers of his friends, (xxii. 14.)]

  

  


[41: Ammian. xxi. 7, 11, 12. He seems to describe, with superfluous labor, the operations of the siege of Aquileia, which, on this occasion, maintained its impregnable fame. Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iii. p. 68) ascribes this accidental revolt to the wisdom of Constantius, whose assured victory he announces with some appearance of truth. Constantio quem credebat procul dubio fore victorem; nemo enim omnium tunc ab hac constanti sententia discrepebat. Ammian. xxi. 7.]

  

  


[42: His death and character are faithfully delineated by Ammianus, (xxi. 14, 15, 16;) and we are authorized to despise and detest the foolish calumny of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 68,) who accuses Julian of contriving the death of his benefactor. The private repentance of the emperor, that he had spared and promoted Julian, (p. 69, and Orat. xxi. p. 389,) is not improbable in itself, nor incompatible with the public verbal testament which prudential considerations might dictate in the last moments of his life. Note: Wagner thinks this sudden change of sentiment altogether a fiction of the attendant courtiers and chiefs of the army. who up to this time had been hostile to Julian. Note in loco Ammian. - M.]

  


[43: In describing the triumph of Julian, Ammianus (xxii. l, 2) assumes the lofty tone of an orator or poet; while Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 56, p. 281) sinks to the grave simplicity of an historian.]

  


[44: The funeral of Constantius is described by Ammianus, (xxi. 16.) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 119,) Mamertinus, in (Panegyr. Vet. xi. 27,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. lvi. p. 283,) and Philostorgius, (l. vi. c. 6, with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 265.) These writers, and their followers, Pagans, Catholics, Arians, beheld with very different eyes both the dead and the living emperor.]

  


[45: The day and year of the birth of Julian are not perfectly ascertained. The day is probably the sixth of November, and the year must be either 331 or 332. Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 693. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 50. I have preferred the earlier date.]

  

  

  


[46: Julian himself (p. 253-267) has expressed these philosophical ideas with much eloquence and some affectation, in a very elaborate epistle to Themistius. The Abbe de la Bleterie, (tom. ii. p. 146-193,) who has given an elegant translation, is inclined to believe that it was the celebrated Themistius, whose orations are still extant.]

  

  


[47: Julian. ad Themist. p. 258. Petavius (not. p. 95) observes that this passage is taken from the fourth book De Legibus; but either Julian quoted from memory, or his MSS. were different from ours Xenophon opens the Cyropaedia with a similar reflection.]

  

  


[48: Aristot. ap. Julian. p. 261. The MS. of Vossius, unsatisfied with the single beast, affords the stronger reading of which the experience of despotism may warrant.]

  

  


[49: Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c. lxxxiv. lxxxv. p. 310, 311, 312) has given this interesting detail of the private life of Julian. He himself (in Misopogon, p. 350) mentions his vegetable diet, and upbraids the gross and sensual appetite of the people of Antioch.]

  

  


[50: Lectulus . . . Vestalium toris purior, is the praise which Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi. 13) addresses to Julian himself. Libanius affirms, in sober peremptory language, that Julian never knew a woman before his marriage, or after the death of his wife, (Orat. Parent. c. lxxxviii. p. 313.) The chastity of Julian is confirmed by the impartial testimony of Ammianus, (xxv. 4,) and the partial silence of the Christians. Yet Julian ironically urges the reproach of the people of Antioch, that he almost always in Misopogon, p. 345) lay alone. This suspicious expression is explained by the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 103-109) with candor and ingenuity.]

  

  


[51: See Salmasius ad Sueton in Claud. c. xxi. A twenty-fifth race, or missus, was added, to complete the number of one hundred chariots, four of which, the four colors, started each heat. Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus. It appears, that they ran five or seven times round the Mota (Sueton in Domitian. c. 4;) and (from the measure of the Circus Maximus at Rome, the Hippodrome at Constantinople, &c.) it might be about a four mile course.]

  

  


[52: Julian. in Misopogon, p. 340. Julius Caesar had offended the Roman people by reading his despatches during the actual race. Augustus indulged their taste, or his own, by his constant attention to the important business of the Circus, for which he professed the warmest inclination. Sueton. in August. c. xlv.]

  

  


[53: The reformation of the palace is described by Ammianus, (xxii. 4,) Libanius, Orat. (Parent. c. lxii. p. 288, &c.,) Mamertinus, in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 11,) Socrates, (l. iii. c. l.,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 24.)]

  

  


[54: Ego non rationalem jussi sed tonsorem acciri. Zonaras uses the less natural image of a senator. Yet an officer of the finances, who was satisfied with wealth, might desire and obtain the honors of the senate.]

  

  


[56: The expressions of Mamertinus are lively and forcible. Quis etiam prandiorum et caenarum laboratas magnitudines Romanus populus sensit; cum quaesitissimae dapes non gustu sed difficultatibus aestimarentur; miracula avium, longinqui maris pisces, aheni temporis poma, aestivae nives, hybernae rosae]

  

  


[57: Yet Julian himself was accused of bestowing whole towns on the eunuchs, (Orat. vii. against Polyclet. p. 117-127.) Libanius contents himself with a cold but positive denial of the fact, which seems indeed to belong more properly to Constantius. This charge, however, may allude to some unknown circumstance.]

  

  


[58: In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339) he draws a very singular picture of himself, and the following words are strangely characteristic. The friends of the Abbe de la Bleterie adjured him, in the name of the French nation, not to translate this passage, so offensive to their delicacy, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 94.) Like him, I have contented myself with a transient allusion; but the little animal which Julian names, is a beast familiar to man, and signifies love.]

  

  


[59: Julian, epist. xxiii. p. 389. He uses the words in writing to his friend Hermogenes, who, like himself, was conversant with the Greek poets.]

  

  


[60: The two Sallusts, the praefect of Gaul, and the praefect of the East, must be carefully distinguished, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 696.) I have used the surname of Secundus, as a convenient epithet. The second Sallust extorted the esteem of the Christians themselves; and Gregory Nazianzen, who condemned his religion, has celebrated his virtues, (Orat. iii. p. 90.) See a curious note of the Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 363. Note: Gibbonus secundum habet pro numero, quod tamen est viri agnomen Wagner, nota in loc. Amm. It is not a mistake; it is rather an error in taste. Wagner inclines to transfer the chief guilt to Arbetio. - M.]

  

  


[61: Mamertinus praises the emperor (xi. l.) for bestowing the offices of Treasurer and Praefect on a man of wisdom, firmness, integrity, &c., like himself. Yet Ammianus ranks him (xxi. l.) among the ministers of Julian, quorum merita norat et fidem.]

  

  


[62: The proceedings of this chamber of justice are related by Ammianus, (xxii. 3,) and praised by Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 74, p. 299, 300.)]

  

  


[63: Ursuli vero necem ipsa mihi videtur flesse justitia. Libanius, who imputes his death to the soldiers, attempts to criminate the court of the largesses.]

  

  


[64: Such respect was still entertained for the venerable names of the commonwealth, that the public was surprised and scandalized to hear Taurus summoned as a criminal under the consulship of Taurus. The summons of his colleague Florentius was probably delayed till the commencement of the ensuing year.]

  

  


[65: Ammian. xx. 7.]

  

  


[66: For the guilt and punishment of Artemius, see Julian (Epist. x. p. 379) and Ammianus, (xxii. 6, and Vales, ad hoc.) The merit of Artemius, who demolished temples, and was put to death by an apostate, has tempted the Greek and Latin churches to honor him as a martyr. But as ecclesiastical history attests that he was not only a tyrant, but an Arian, it is not altogether easy to justify this indiscreet promotion. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1319.]

  

  


[67: See Ammian. xxii. 6, and Vales, ad locum; and the Codex Theodosianus, l. ii. tit. xxxix. leg. i.; and Godefroy's Commentary, tom. i. p. 218, ad locum.]

  

  


[68: The president Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur, &c., des Romains, c. xiv. in his works, tom. iii. p. 448, 449,) excuses this minute and absurd tyranny, by supposing that actions the most indifferent in our eyes might excite, in a Roman mind, the idea of guilt and danger. This strange apology is supported by a strange misapprehension of the English laws, "chez une nation . . . . ou il est defendu da boire a la sante d'une certaine personne."]

  

  


[69: The clemency of Julian, and the conspiracy which was formed against his life at Antioch, are described by Ammianus (xxii. 9, 10, and Vales, ad loc.) and Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 99, p. 323.)]

  

  


[70: According to some, says Aristotle, (as he is quoted by Julian ad Themist. p. 261,) the form of absolute government is contrary to nature. Both the prince and the philosopher choose, how ever to involve this eternal truth in artful and labored obscurity.]

  

  


[71: That sentiment is expressed almost in the words of Julian himself. Ammian. xxii. 10.]

  

  


[72: Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 95, p. 320,) who mentions the wish and design of Julian, insinuates, in mysterious language that the emperor was restrained by some particular revelation.]

  

  


[73: Julian in Misopogon, p. 343. As he never abolished, by any public law, the proud appellations of Despot, or Dominus, they are still extant on his medals, (Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 38, 39;) and the private displeasure which he affected to express, only gave a different tone to the servility of the court. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 99-102) has curiously traced the origin and progress of the word Dominus under the Imperial government.]

  

  


[74: Ammian. xxii. 7. The consul Mamertinus (in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 28, 29, 30) celebrates the auspicious day, like an elegant slave, astonished and intoxicated by the condescension of his master.]

  

  


[75: Personal satire was condemned by the laws of the twelve tables: Si male condiderit in quem quis carmina, jus est Judiciumque - Horat. Sat. ii. 1. 82. Julian (in Misopogon, p. 337) owns himself subject to the law; and the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 92) has eagerly embraced a declaration so agreeable to his own system, and, indeed, to the true spirit of the Imperial constitution.]

  

  


[76: Zosimus, l. iii. p. 158.]

  

  


[77: See Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 71, p. 296,) Ammianus, (xxii. 9,) and the Theodosian Code (l. xii. tit. i. leg. 50-55.) with Godefroy's Commentary, (tom. iv. p. 390-402.) Yet the whole subject of the Curia, notwithstanding very ample materials, still remains the most obscure in the legal history of the empire.]

  

  


[78: Quae paulo ante arida et siti anhelantia visebantur, ea nunc perlui, mundari, madere; Fora, Deambulacra, Gymnasia, laetis et gaudentibus populis frequentari; dies festos, et celebrari veteres, et novos in honorem principis consecrari, (Mamertin. xi. 9.) He particularly restored the city of Nicopolis and the Actiac games, which had been instituted by Augustus.]

  

  


[79: Julian. Epist. xxxv. p. 407-411. This epistle, which illustrates the declining age of Greece, is omitted by the Abbe de la Bleterie, and strangely disfigured by the Latin translator, who, by rendering tributum, and populus, directly contradicts the sense of the original.]

  

  


[80: He reigned in Mycenae at the distance of fifty stadia, or six miles from Argos: but these cities, which alternately flourished, are confounded by the Greek poets. Strabo, l. viii. p. 579, edit. Amstel. 1707.]

  

  


[81: Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 421. This pedigree from Temenus and Hercules may be suspicious; yet it was allowed, after a strict inquiry, by the judges of the Olympic games, (Herodot. l. v. c. 22,) at a time when the Macedonian kings were obscure and unpopular in Greece. When the Achaean league declared against Philip, it was thought decent that the deputies of Argos should retire, (T. Liv. xxxii. 22.)]

  

  


[82: His eloquence is celebrated by Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 75, 76, p. 300, 301,) who distinctly mentions the orators of Homer. Socrates (l. iii. c. 1) has rashly asserted that Julian was the only prince, since Julius Caesar, who harangued the senate. All the predecessors of Nero, (Tacit. Annal. xiii. 3,) and many of his successors, possessed the faculty of speaking in public; and it might be proved by various examples, that they frequently exercised it in the senate.]

  

  


[83: Ammianus (xxi. 10) has impartially stated the merits and defects of his judicial proceedings. Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 90, 91, p. 315, &c.) has seen only the fair side, and his picture, if it flatters the person, expresses at least the duties, of the judge. Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 120,) who suppresses the virtues, and exaggerates even the venial faults of the Apostate, triumphantly asks, whether such a judge was fit to be seated between Minos and Rhadamanthus, in the Elysian Fields.]

  

  


[84: Of the laws which Julian enacted in a reign of sixteen months, fifty-four have been admitted into the codes of Theodosius and Justinian. (Gothofred. Chron. Legum, p. 64-67.) The Abbe de la Bleterie (tom. ii. p. 329-336) has chosen one of these laws to give an idea of Julian's Latin style, which is forcible and elaborate, but less pure than his Greek.]

  

  


[85: . . . Ductor fortissimus armis; Conditor et legum celeberrimus; ore manuque Consultor patriae; sed non consultor habendae Religionis; amans tercentum millia Divum. Pertidus ille Deo, sed non et perfidus orbi. Prudent. Apotheosis, 450, &c. The consciousness of a generous sentiment seems to have raised the Christian post above his usual mediocrity.]


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